I am not a fan of the Home Run Derby. I have railed against it a few times. This year it seems that some of the best players plan to skip it (Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, J.D. Martinez). I read that the Mariners are pushing to have Ichiro participate. Technically, Ichiro is now some sort of coach/player. Why not have him in the derby? In fact, why not have him, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, and a few other retired players. Maybe invite Pedro Alvarez (he was just DFA’d, but I still feel like he could put on a show).
But seriously, back to Bonds vs. Ichiro. What could be more fun than that? Especially if we see Bonds out there having fun. It may go a long way to rehabilitating his image (granted, it will take a bit more than a few long balls during batting practice). Some of you may think there is no way that Ichiro could go toe-to-toe with Bonds, but there have been stories about his home run capabilities during batting practice.
Quick history lesson…back in 1925, Babe Ruth was the dominant player of the league (duh). Ty Cobb was at this point a player-manager and he was almost 40 years old. He wanted to put on a show for the fans, so he went 6/6 with three home runs. Then the next day he hit two more home runs. The story goes that before the first game, Cobb told a reporter that he was going to try for home runs for the first time in his career.
I am sure they could tell that story at some point during the derby.
C’mon MLB! Make this happen.
